Farmington homeowner doesn't regret firing gun: Though he might take different approach to stopping burglar in future

By DANIELLE CURTIS dcurtis@fosters.com

Tuesday

Feb 21, 2012 at 3:15 AM

FARMINGTON — While he may be facing a felony charge, Dennis Fleming said he does not regret firing his gun Saturday when he stopped and detained a burglar who had entered his home and at least one other on Ten Rod Road.

Still, the 61-year-old grandfather of 14 said he might go about stopping the burglar a little differently next time.

"I should have called police and I recommend that everyone does," he said. "That aside, I'm glad I caught him."

Fleming was arrested late Saturday night after turning himself into police and charged with felony reckless conduct, alleging he put others at risk of serious bodily injury when he discharged his firearm into the ground near 27-year-old Joseph Hebert in a residential area where people had gathered to watch the ordeal unfold.

Though shots were fired, no one was injured. Fleming was released on personal recognizance bail soon after his arrest.

Fleming related Saturday afternoon's events to Foster's on Monday, saying it began when he arrived at his 1826 farmhouse, which has been in his family for decades, at approximately 1:45 p.m. and found drawers opened and his belongings scattered around the house.

He said he couldn't tell right away if anything from his home was missing, and that after about 10 or 15 minutes of checking his house for damage and stolen items, he noticed a man walking down the street with a backpack.

"I said, 'That can't be him,'" Fleming said Monday, but decided to see if it was, driving his truck down the road.

After he did not find the man, Fleming said he went back to his house, grabbed his gun, and decided to walk down the street to talk with neighbors and find out if they had seen anyone suspicious in the area.

It was on this walk that he saw the man with the backpack, later identified to be Hebert, again, coming out of a neighbor's back window.

"I heard, 'Crash, bang boom!', and he came flying out the back window," Fleming said. It was later determined Hebert had left Fleming's house in a similar fashion, jumping from a second-story window about 15 feet down to the ground.

What happened next Fleming said was a result of him acting on an instinct to not only stop the man, but protect himself.

"I had drawn my gun ... I had a bypass last year, I have a bad knee, bad back, I don't want this guy to come at me," he said Monday. "I yelled, 'Freeze!' and fired my gun into the ground."

Fleming held the man at gunpoint until police arrived to help. Found in the man's backpack were a number of items, including old pocket watches that belonged to Fleming's father and silver coins, taken from another residence.

After he fired the gun, Fleming said, the alleged burglar was not only calm, but apologetic.

"He felt bad," Fleming said. "I told him if he's got a problem, get help. I feel bad for the guy, but not that bad, he was in my house."

It was Saturday night, when Fleming called local police to find out if Hebert had been released on bail, concerned he might try to come back to the house, that he learned he himself was going to be charged in the incident.

While he said he knows he broke the law by firing his weapon, he said the charge, a Class B felony punishable by 31⁄2 to 7 years in prison, still came as a shock.

"I got read my rights for the first time in my life," he said. "I'm sick to my stomach. I don't know what's going to happen to me now. I'm pretty nervous, I don't want to go to prison."

Fleming said his weapons, including a number of hunting rifles and antique guns once handed down through his family were taken away after his arrest. Now, Fleming, who is not scheduled to be arraigned on his charge until March 20, said he has to wait and see what will come of his arrest.

County Attorney Tom Velardi said Monday that he will be reviewing the case and will work to determine if the charge against Fleming is appropriate.

Velardi said his office was consulted over the weekend about whether to charge Fleming, adding the state statute regarding what constitutes self-defense or defense of property is clear and that he would be reviewing the statute and the facts of the case.

"We'll review all circumstances, including where the person was when he fired, why he fired, to determine whether we will proceed with the charge," Velardi said.

Farmington police, too, are continuing their investigation into the case, looking into whether Hebert could be involved in a number of other recent burglaries in town.

While Sgt. Scott Ferguson said Monday that there is no new information on whether Hebert was involved in other break-ins, he did say he expects more charges to filed against the man in the future.

Hebert will appear in Rochester Circuit Court this morning via video to be arraigned on his charges stemming from the situation, including two counts of burglary, both Class B felonies punishable by 31⁄2 to 7 years in prison, and one felony level count of possession of controlled narcotics.

In the meantime, while Fleming is not scheduled to be arraigned on his charge until March, he said he is nervous about what will come of the situation but does not regret what he did.

"I think I did right," he said Monday afternoon. "I stopped a guy who stole and kept him from doing it again."

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